Hopper-door mechanism



C. H. WILLIAMSON. HOPPER DOOR MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILE-D MAYIs. 1920. RENEWED MAR. 16. 1922.

Patented July 18, 1922.

VIIIIIIIIM Illl IIIIIIIII IIIIIIIII IIIA 2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

C. H. WILLIAMSON.

HOPPER .DOOR MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED MAY-I3, 1920. RENEWED MAR. 16, 1922.

Patented July 18, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

e s its HOPPER-130GB MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 318,

Application filed May 13, 1920, Serial No. 381,028. Renewed MarclrlG, 1922. Serial No. 544,356.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that l, Cninnncn H. WIL- LIAMSON, a citizen of the United States, residin at Bellwood, in the county of Blair and btate of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hopper-Door Mechanism; and I'do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to devices forfetlectively controlling the safe operation of hopper doors, and has been designed more especially for use in connection with rapidly opening drop bottom doors provided on railway cars.

in practice the hopper doors of a railway car are controlled bywhat is generally known as an operating geanor mechanism consisting of interconnected arms and links operatively associated with a movable sheave. Suitable take up and release cables or chains are attachedto the sheave for effecting the operation thereof whereby the hopper doors are opened and closed. The construction oi the'door operating mechanism is such that the weight of thecontent-s upon the doors serves to accelerate theopen ing thereof after a predetermined initial movement of the mechanism over a dead center. This movement is obtained by winding the releasing chain upon manually operated sheave or drum of positive rotation, by means of a crank, wrench or similar device. 7

During this winding operation the strain is suddenly transferred from the release to the take up chain with the result that the crank or wrench is either spun or thrown oil inflicting in many cases serious injury to the operator.

it is an object of my invention to obviate this diiliculty and produce anovei winding drum about whichthe release and take up chains can be readily wound without danger of transmitting the accelerated movement of the hopper doors when opening, to the operator.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a novel winding drum composed of complementary and differentially movable sections, to each of which is secured one end of the release and take up chains, respectively, and means for alternately controlling the operation of the aforesaid complementarysections of the drum when opening and closing the hopper doors. v

l Vith these and other objects in view my invention further consists in the arrange ment, construction and operation of the several parts comprising my improved safety device hereinafter described and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating an embodimentkoa my invention as applied to'drop. bottom doors or a railway car:---

Fig. 1 is a view in sectional elevation showing a portion of a railway car provided with hopper doors having my improved safety and controlling device attached thereto,

Fig. 2 is a. transverse sectional view on the line 2.2 of Fig. 1, illustrating the manner in which my novel winding drum is revolubly mounted'beneath the car and operatively controlled from the side thereof;

, Fig. 3 is an enlarged elevationofthe drum showing the complementary relation of the two sectionscomposingthe drum, and the shiftable controlling and interlocking element in dotted lines Fig. 4 is. an end view of the winding drum on the line 4l l offl ig. 3: looking in t-hedirection of the arrows and particularly showing the connecting eyefor therelease chain, the latter being conventionally indicated by the dot and dash line; p

Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view on theline 55 of l illustrating in full lines the relation of the several parts shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3; and

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view through the drum on the line 66 of Fig. 3, and showing in distant elevation the con necting eye for the take up chain which is indicated by the dot and dash line.

Although I do not wish to be understood as limiting the application of my novel drum to railway equipment, the invention has been primarily designed for use in conjunction with the hopper door operating gear now employed on railway cars, and to that end includes a winding drum composed of two ditlerential and complementary sections, and a shiftable means capable 0t being automatically actuated forsuccessively engaging each drum section, whereby the operating shaft therefor remains unaffected or idle during the'releasing and opening of the doors,

and becomes positively interconnected with the take up means when returning the doors to normal closed position.

Referring to the drawings wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts, a portion of a railway car 1 is illustrated as provided with hopper or drop bottom doors 2, suitably hinged to the bottom frame construction indicated by the numeral 3. The doors are usually arranged in groups throughout the length of the car, the inner ec ges of each pair of doors being arranged to meet as shown in Fig. 1, when closed to retain the contents.

The operating gear 01' mechanism for the doors includes a sheave l rotatably mounted upon the shaft 5, and a series of interposed arms 6 and links 7. The arms are secured to the doors 2, and extend upwardly above the top of the sheave, the said arms being offset or bent as at 8 and pivotally secured at 9 to the links 7 at a point. beyond the dead center as shown. 9 i

The opposite ends of the links 7 are pivotally secured at 10 to projecting flange of the sheave 4.

Operating cables or chains extend from above and beneath the sheave and will be referred to herein as the release chain 11 and take up chain 12. The release chain The winding drum consists of complemen tary sections 17 .and18 diflierentiallytrevoluble with relation ItO each other upon the operating shaft 19. The section 17 constitutes the main chain or cable receiving portion, and it is preferably constructed in the form of a sleeve 20 having an end wall or hub 21 journalled upon the shaft 19. A. series of beveled or ratchet teeth 22 is provided upon the inner side of the end wall and is adapted to coact with a mating series of teeth formed upon one end of the shift able element to be presently described. The end wall of the section 17 isextended and flared as shown to form a retaining or guiding flange 23 which serves to deflect and maintain the take up chain in operative association around the drum. The chain 12 is secured to an eye bolt 241 detachably positioned within the boss 25.

The complementary section 18 constitutes the opposite end of the drum, and as shown is provided with a series of beveled or ratchet teeth 26 arranged to extend within the sleeve 20 of the complementary section 17. A retaining flange 27 of similar construction to the flange 23 is formed upon this section 18" and is provided with an eye bolt 28 detachis properly positioned and guided ardund the chain receiving sleeve 20.

The end of the sleeve 20 abuts against the inner face of the complementary sectlon 18 as indicated at 30, thereby preventing all tendency of the chains to drop between the complementary sections. The sections are held in operative abutted position by means of bearing sleeves 81 suitably secured to the center sill or channels 16.

The means for controlling the differential rotation of the complementary sections 17 and 18 of the winding drum, includes a movable sleeve or thimble 32 slidingly mounted upon a squared portion 33 of the shaft 19. Beveledor ratchet teeth are provided upon each end of the sleeve 32, and are designed to co-act with the respective series of teeth formed upon the drum sections 17 and 18.

The sleeve or thimble 32 is provided with teeth 3 1 adapted to engage the teeth 22 of the compleniental section 17, and teeth 35: upon the opposite end of the sleeve designed to engage the teeth 26 of the complemental section 18. V i J i The sleeve 32 is rotatable with the shaft 19 which is shownas extending outwardly to the side of the car within convenient reach of an operator. The end of the shaft 19 is squared or otherwise designed to receive crank or wrench (not shown). A

The usual rat' het' wheel 36 and locking pawl 37 are also shown.

v The operation of the hopper door inechae satety device applied thereto 1 sin and. my follows: i v V i l Vith the doors 2 normally closed as shown in 1, an'operator applies a'cranlr to the squared end of the shaft 19 and releases the locking pawl 37 from the ratchet wheel 36. Upon turning the shaft in the direction of the arrows in Figs. 3, 4: and 5 the teeth 3% of the thiinble 32 will slide upon the inclined faces of the teeth 22 of the drum section 17. This sliding action will cause the teeth of the thimble 32 to move into engagement with the teeth 26 of the drum section 18 and thus positively connect the latter to the shaft 19. The section 18 is connected through the re lease chain 11 tothe sheave 1, and the rotation of the section 18 with the shaft 19 will cause the pivotal connection 9 of the interconnected arms and links of the sheave l to be carried beyond the dead center, that is, beyond the vertical line passing through the pivot point 5. whereupon the weight upon the doors 2 will cause the sheaves; to rotate and through the, chain 12 will causea rotation, of the section 17 of the drum. This retation will not be communicated to the shaft 19 since the sleeve 32 is of such length that when it is in engagement with one of the sections, as for instance the section 18, the teeth at the opposite end will be spaced from the coacting teeth of the other section, 17, and vice versa.

, As soon as the sheave 4 has been moved sufiiciently to cause the pivotal. point 9 of the interconnected arms and links'to pass beyond the dead center of the sheave, the release chain 11 will sag downwardly as it is unwound from the sheave t, while the takeup chain 12 will be wound around the sheave 1 as'it is unwound from the drum section 17.

To close the doors, the shaft 19 is rotated in an opposite direction, the initial movement of which causes the thimble 32, and more particularly the teeth 35 thereof, to ride out of mesh with the teeth 26 of the drum section 18. This movement causes the thimble to shift into operative engagement with the drum section 17, the teeth 22 thereof meshing with the teeth 34 of the thimble. In this position the drum is capable of wind ing the take up chain upon the receiving sleeve 20 of the section 17 positive motion being transmitted through the shaft 19 to the thimble 32 and in turn to the drum. The operator continues to rotate the shaft until the doors are closed and the operating gear returned to the position shown in Fig. 1 with the pivotal connection 9 past the dead center. The several parts are now positioned to again effect a dumping of the contents of the car as will be understood.

The thimble or sleeve 82 is freely slidable upon the squared portion 33 of the shaft 19, and the degree of separation between the respective series of co-acting teeth may be varied to correspond with the effective force which causes the thimble to alternately interlock with the respective difierential drum sections. This, together with other changes in the proportion and size of the several parts as well as other adaptations of my safety device, may be resorted to, and I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the exact form herein disclosed.

I claim 1. The combination with a hopper door operating mechanism having releasing and take up devices connected thereto, of a winding drum for said devices comprising differentially movable sections, means for rotating the winding drum and means operated by the said rotating means for disconnecting one of the differentially movable drum sections therefrom.

tating the winding drum, and means includ- -1ng a shiftable member arranged to disconnect one of the movable drum sections from said rotating means and engage another of said sections thereto.

4. The combination with a hopper door operating mechanism having releasing and take up devices connected thereto, of a winding drumfor said devices composed of separable movable drum sections, means for rotating the winding drum and means operated by the said rotating means for disconnecting one of the movable drum sections for free rotation and engaging another of said drum sections.

5. The combination with .a hopper door operating mechanism having releasing and take up devices connected thereto, of a wind 111g drum for said devices composed of com- 'plemen-tary movable sections, a shaft for rotating the winding drum, and means carried by the shaft for disengaging therefrom one of the complementary sections of the winding drum when opening the hopper door.

I 6. The combination with a hopper door operating mechanism having releasing and take up devices connected thereto, of a wind: ing drum composed of complementary movable sections to which are connected respectively the releasing and take up devices, a shaft upon which said drum is mounted, means for rotating the winding drum to open or close the hopper door, and means interposed between the complementary movable drum sections and carried by said shaft whereby motion due to the operation of the operating mechanism during the opening of the hopper door is not transmitted to the rotating means through the unwinding of the take up device.

7. The combination with a hopper door operating mechanism having releasing and take up devices connected thereto, of a winding drum composed of complementary movable sections to which are connected respectively the releasing and take up devices, means for rotating the winding drum to open or close the hopper door, and means positioned between the complementary drum sections and shiftably operated by the aforesaid rotating means to alternately engage the said drum sections.

8. The combination with a hopper door operating mechanism having releasing and take up controlling devices connected thereto, of a winding drum for said devices composed of differentially movable sections, means interposed between the said sections for alternately engaging the same, and

means including a shaft for operating the aforesaid means to effect the winding of the aforesaid controlling devices.

9. The combination with a hopper door operating mechanism having releasing and take up controlling devices connected thereto of a winding drum for said devices composed of differentially movable sections,

means including a movable sleeve having means including a movable sleeve shiftably mounted between the said sections for alternately engaging the aforesaid devices and a shaft for winding the aforesaid con trolling devices.

11. In a hopper door operating mechanism for railway cars the combination witha door, of pivotally connected links and operating sheave therefor, releasing and take up controlling devices secured. to said sheave, a winding drum for said devices composed of differentially movable sections, means for operating the said drum, means for disconnecting one of the movable sections so that the movement of the aforesaid sheave as it passes a dead center when opening the door, is not transmitted to the operating means and means mounted on said operating means and independent of said drum for re-engaging said disconnected section with the said operating means for effecting the return of the sheave and connected links to close the door. V

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

i 0. fl; WILLIAMSON. 

